3/3/20 - Day 6 Post Surgery

Hi All!  We met w Dr. Altorki (Jas’ surgeon) this evening.  All went well w the barium swallow test today!  No leaks 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼  Thank you Jesus!!!!  Jas said it was really strange to see how different it was to see his colon in place of his esophagus on the xrays.  He could see the ridges on the colon and it just looks bigger than the last tubing.  Maybe he won't have any issues getting food through the new hookup as a result? This afternoon and evening Jas was able to drink broth and tea.  PRAISE.THE.LORD!!!  This is HUGE!  I can't even imagine how good it felt to be able to drink something after almost a week of nothing orally!  It's strange because he had to retrain his body how to swallow after the surgery.  So with the first few sips there was some coughing (because the hook up is swollen) but after that his body is figuring it out and he can swallow fairly well.  So tonight we had "dinner (broth for him) and a movie" date together in the hospital room ☺️.

More good news, the epidural came out today!  One more less tube 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼  Since the removal of the epidural in the am, they have been able to figure out a good pain med combo, including layering in a liquid narcotic to give him a little more time to heal without being in awful pain.  And the really good news is no nausea 🎉🎉🎉. Thank you Lord!!!

They are a bit concerned about the incision area in the abdomen. So they took out about 10 of 40+ staples to relieve some of the pressure and fluid and then swabbed it for infection.  The initial result came back ok, but it's also something they let sit for awhile to see if anything shows up differently later.  So they will closely monitor and have him on antibiotics to help keep any infection away while the incision heals.

Tomorrow they will progress to thicker liquids to drink and see how it goes.  It's truly trial and error at this point bc you just don't know how the body will respond. The goal of course being to be able to advance to soft solids in a few days.

On the hospital roommate front, we had a changeover today. It was neat because during the course of the day we were able to share some of our story w the prior roomie and how God has worked through  the past situations.  He was amazed to see how well Jas is doing today compared to last Thursday when Jas came to the room.  I shared I would be praying for him and his upcoming surgery which he seemed to appreciate.  You never know how God can work through a roomie situation right? In between the switchover, we had a couple of hours of peace and a gorgeous view!  Normally the curtain is drawn btwn the two beds for privacy, but we opened that puppy wide open while no one else was there.  Check out our view!

And then the next roommate moved in and our view changed back to this (below.)  Thankful for the little bit of sunshine and peace/quiet we got while it lasted!

To end the evening, I was was able to transfer from one hotel to another thanks to all the generous donations of Marriott points!  We are so incredibly grateful for so many coming together to help us out in this way!  God is moving and continues to move friends!  

That’s it for now!  Have a good night to all and thanks for your continued prayers!